17 March 2016

Oclaro showcases products to accelerate transition to 100-400Gb/s single-mode fiber networks

Oclaro Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which provides components, modules and subsystems for optical communications) has announced its line-up of fiber-optic transceivers designed to drive the data-center transition from 40Gb/s to 100Gb/s and multi-mode fiber to single-mode fiber networks, on display in booth #1601 at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition (OFC 2016) in Anaheim, CA, USA (22-24 March).

Featuring small form factors, high density and low power dissipation, the products will enable users to quickly and cost-effectively upgrade to higher-speed networks that can meet the demand for higher bandwidth, says Oclaro.

"Delivering the higher bandwidth that data-center operators and telecom service providers are demanding requires critical advancements in core optics technology, which is where Oclaro remains focused," says chief commercial officer Adam Carter. "Oclaro has leveraged its decades of experience and world-class manufacturing strength to deliver the breakthroughs in fiber-optic transceivers and components needed to transition to higher speeds while still maintaining competitive cost structures," he adds. 

100Gb/s and 400Gb/s high-speed optics demonstrations

At OFC, Oclaro is demonstrating its 100Gb/s LR4 full product line-up showcasing interoperability between its second-generation CFP, CFP2, CFP4 and the newly introduced QSFP28 module. Details of the demo include:

• 100GbE/OTU4 dual-rate capability based on Oclaro's in-house lasers; and
• higher front-panel density and meeting bandwidth requirements with new smaller form factors (CFP4 & QSFP28) while keeping full backward compatibility with older-generation form factors (CFP/CFP2) for core routing and data-center applications.

Oclaro is also showcasing its 400Gb/s CFP8 for next-generation core and data-center applications. Details of the demo include:

• support for reaches of 2km and 10km, based on the optical 50Gb/s PAM4 modulation scheme according to IEEE 802.3bs 400GBASE-FR8/LR8 specifications under discussion at IEEE;
• use of Oclaro's in-house laser diode and photodiode devices based on mature 100Gb/s technology used in LR4 CFPx/QSFP28 products; and
• eight times front-panel bandwidth density compared with 100Gb/s CFP.

First single-carrier 400Gb/s end-to-end live demo

Together with partners Teledyne LeCroy, Coherent Solutions and Anritsu, Oclaro is demonstrating that its industry-first high electro-optic bandwidth lithium niobate (LiNbO3) external modulator is suitable to run data rates of 400Gb/s on a single carrier (or wavelength). This demo is showcasing a symbol rate of 56Gbaud and 16-QAM as modulation format. The combination of this symbol rate and modulation format allows users to run a true 400Gb/s data rate on a single carrier. Oclaro says that this live demo is the second milestone that demonstrates the capability of its LiNbO3 to run data rates higher than 400Gb/s (the first milestone was at ECOC 2015, when Oclaro ran a live demo using 56Gbaud and QPSK modulation format) making it suitable for many different applications, from data-center interconnect to metro and long-haul networks.

SFP28-LR/LR Lite I-Temp demo

Oclaro is demonstrating what is claimed to be the first SFP28-LR Lite I-temp and SFP28-ER interoperating with QSFP28 CWDM4. The SFP28/LR/LR Lite is designed for enterprise switches, next-generation 5G mobile front-haul networks, data-center switches and access applications where data rates are increasing from 10Gb/s to 25Gb/s and 40Gb/s to 100Gb/s.  

To develop the SFP28 LR/LR Lite I-temp transceiver, Oclaro leveraged its 1310nm 28Gb/s DML laser chip and its experience as the highest volume manufacturer of 100Gb/s client-side transceivers. The firm also developed a 28Gb/s TO-CAN transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA) for this product using its existing 10G TOSA packaging technology. Oclaro claims to be the first supplier to offer an SFP28 LR/LR Lite solution that achieves 1.2W (maximum) at commercial operating temperatures. Prototype samples of the SFP28 I-temp are available now, and Oclaro expects to begin volume production of the SFP28 LR in second-quarter 2016.

Oclaro 400Gb/s external modulator

Oclaro's 400Gb/s lithium niobate external modulator is designed to enable 400Gb/s-and-beyond speeds on a single wavelength or carrier. The modulator is a high electro-optic bandwidth polarization multiplexed quad parallel Mach-Zehnder (PM-QMZ) device that integrates into a hermetic package an input beam splitter, four parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators configured for I-Q modulation, a polarization combiner, and a monitor photodiodes for power and bias control.

Key features of the 400Gb/s lithium niobate external modulator include the following:

• a 3dB electro-optic bandwidth exceeding 35GHz;
• very smooth optical response up to 50GHz, enabling a symbol rate of up to 64Gbaud;
• an extinction ratio above 25dB to enable complex modulation formats; and
• insertion loss below 13dB for high efficiency.

Non-hermetic 25Gb/s DFB laser diodes
Also at OFC, Oclaro is announcing internal qualification of its non-hermetic 25Gb/s 1.3μm distributed feedback (DFB) laser diodes suitable for use in 100Gb/s transceivers. Featuring low operating current at high temperatures, the 25Gb/s DFB is a key component for enabling data-center operators to transition faster to highly meshed 100Gb/s connections over single-mode fiber.

Oclaro representatives participating on panels at OFC
Oclaro has representatives participating on the following panels during OFC:
20 March (3:30-6:30pm in Ballroom A)
Workshop: 'Silicon Photonic Transceivers: Competition or Coexistence?' by senior vice president R&D Beck Mason (co-organizer of the workshop).
21 March (3:15-4:30pm)
OSA Executive Forum Presentation: 'Optics Inside the Datacenter - Is COBO the Next Big Thing or Just Another Thing?' by chief commercial officer Adam Carter.
22 March (2:30-4pm on the Exhibit Floor)
Market Watch Presentation: 'The Promising Market of 100Gbit/s and Beyond Pluggable Devices - Talk with Experts' by Yves LeMaitre, president of Oclaro's Optical Connectivity Business;
22 March (12:45-14:45pm in Expo Theatre III)
Panel Presentation: 'Next Generation Data Center Optics' by Beck Mason, Oclaro's senior VP, R&D;
22 March (2-4pm in Ballroom E)
Poster Presentation: 'Integrated Nonlinear-optical Signal Processing' by Mike Wale, Oclaro;
24 March (10am-12pm in Exhibit Hall)
Poster Presentation: 'Quasi Single-Sideband (SSB) IM/DD Nyquist PAM Signaling for High-Spectral Efficiency DWDM Transmission' by Takayoshi Fukui, Oclaro Japan;

Partner presentations:

• Oclaro partners are also participating on several technical presentations, including:
  'Industry first End-to-End 400G Test Equipment Platform' at the Teledyne LeCroy booth #1115 (23 March, 3pm); 
• Dr Katarzyna Lawniczuk of the Technical University Eindhoven, The Netherlands is speaking on a workshop on Photonics Foundries 'Open-Access InP Foundry Services for Photonic ICs' (21 March, 9am-12pm in Ballroom B); 
• Oclaro is sponsoring a photonic integrated circuits workshop 'Everything You Need to Know in Order to Design a PIC and to Use Key Service Providers to Do This Faster and Cheaper' (23 March, 5:45-8:15pm in Room 210AB).

Tags: Oclaro

Visit:  www.ofcconference.org

Visit:  www.oclaro.com